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Saturday, November 28, 2009

I think I may be a vampire. Although I don't have a hankering for blood or anything. And I'm pretty sure I don't turn to dust (or sparkle) in the sunlight. And I like garlic. Not sure about the stake through the heart or holy water. OK, so maybe I'm not a vampire afterall, but I can no longer sleep at night. I haven't slept well at night for so long that I cannot even remember the last time I slept a straight 8 hours at night. Most of the time, however, I could probably sleep all day. Wait, let me rephrase that. Physically, I could sleep all day, but realistically, with the 400 kids who are usually at my house, I couldn't possibly actually sleep during the day. But last night was especially bad. I lay in bed shivering for hours. Shivering! Me! The woman who awakes in a puddle of sweat, the woman who is always hot, the woman who can't stand to wear long sleeves or anything on her feet because it makes her too warm. Yeah, that woman. Yet, last night, I lay awake until after 3:00, just freezing.

I finally got up the energy to crawl from the relative comfiness of my many blankets and brave the iciness of my house in order to check the thermostat. It was 62.

Today, I gave my 329th "Do not touch the frippin thermostat under penalty of death" speech to the kids. Of course, all 6 of them unanimously agreed that "Notme" was the culprit. I'm buying a fingerprinting kit. Oh yeah! Who has the last laugh now, Notme?!

29 comments:

Anonymous
said...

You might consider asking your doctor about Trazadone. It is a prescription but it helps reset your sleep pattern. You only have to take it when you need it (i.e. it doesn't have to build up in your system). If I am unusually stressed, I take one and helps me stay asleep. If not, I will usually wake up in the middle of the night for no reason and not be able to get back to sleep for hours. Not good.

Anyway, there is help out there. Talk with your doctor when you get a chance, ha! :)

Sorry, but I have to laugh at this one. I am like you and for some reason I can't sleep at night (maybe due to having a decision that I can't talk about with anyone that I have to solve on my own.)I too seem to get very cold easily.I am the one that was always hot and now I am the one that is always cold. I just blame that on my age now..but I don't like it when it goes under 70° at night outdoors.And I hate when some 'ghost' turns the thermostat up or down ! LOLGood luck with your threat ... it doesn't work for me on the weekends. Ps.....how about before bed drinking some Plum Wine !Hugs from NE Indiana

I feel your pain......not the freezing all night because the thermostat got turned down, but because I never sleep well either. Usually a straight 4 hours & then awake every hour on the hour. Been that way my whole life.

And good luck on catching Notme by way of fingerprinting. You could install one of those clear boxes w/ a lock that businesses use possibly? Just kidding of course, fingerprinting sounds so much more fun.

Couldn't help but notice that you have skipped the Thanksgiving chatter altogether. You have a long long long road ahead of you.

I am COLD at night sometimes, too. I fall asleep cold and I wake up cold. When I come to in the morning, I think about how weird it is that the very sheets and blankets that covered me: still. feel. very. very. cold.

my sleep cycle got off when i was in college. i developed what is called delayed sleep syndrome. basically i would be up all night and sleep all day. the doctor had me reset it but staying up later and later every night until i finally got to a regular night time bedtime. So i would force myself to stay up till say 6am, then force it to 10am, 2pm etc. it was boring being that no one is up at night, but it worked, took about a week. no drugs needed. My doc also suggested this special light to sit under to simulate sunlight but it was crazy expensive and i was a broke college student.

You'd hate my house, Dawn. I don't set it higher than 64 during the day. 62 at night. Ongoing underemployment requires conservation of our propane. When we run the woodstove, the family room downstairs gets to about 52. My family complains, but the alternative is to run out of fuel in the middle of winter. Not desireable!Dawn in MI

The only time I ever had to deal with this was last winter. My daughter was pushing the up arrow for me if I wasn't near it. Basically I was too lazy to walk over there and do it myself. :) Anyways, one day we were sweating while we were watching tv. We never sweat in our house, we shiver. So my hubby gets up to check and realizes that she kept pushing the up button when she was cold. It was set at 80!! Carzy kids.

My dad used to turn the thermostat to 50 degrees at night. We lived in northern Ohio, in the snow belt, so it was COLD! Our house was also so poorly insulated that we sometimes had ice on the INSIDE corners. I was so cold at night, I slept under 10 blankets, with my head under the covers. It's a wonder I didn't asphixiate myself. Anyway, when I was probably about 10, my parents bought electric blankets. Problem solved!

Oh, and by the way--it wouldn't have occurred to us kids to touch the thermostat. The (imagined) penalty was too horrible to describe. It just wasn't DONE.

Welcome to peri-menopause (maybe!). Sleep is messed up and you're cold (and hot)and you never know which it'll be at any given moment. Try fleece sheets (Kohls sells them)and/or an electric blanket. We keep our house cool, around 62 at night, and around 65 during the day-big drafty old house. I'm ALWAYS cold so I wear lots of layers. Good luck Dawn!!

Health in the pill... I don't like that thinking. Food MATTERS! Maybe you have to much caffeine intake during the day? It took me long months to admit it and change it. Wasn't easy, as I was a big coffee lover! But I had the same problem as you. I discovered that even a tea in the evening will mess up my sleep. Good luck though. I love your blog. :)

As for 'not me' my friend's DH put a stop to that one Christmas. He told the two teenaged children that the box he had filled with gifts and wrapped was for 'not me' who lived there. If anyone confessed to being 'not me' they woul get the surprise box!! :D

I used to be cold all the time. Now I feel fine/warm. Maybe I'm menopausal?

Hubby does not like to be too warm when he sleeps. The thermostat is at 60 at night and 65 during the day. I added an extra layer to my side of the bed, so there is one sheet over the entire bed, then a flannel sheet on my side, a light thermal blanket over us both and a bedspread over me, which he pulls over himself after he gets cold in the middle of the night.

If I get too cold during the daytime, I either bake or make a fire in the woodstove, sometimes both.

62deg is hot! I've been sat here this evening (in the UK) with my thermostat on 60deg and feeling fine! At night it's set to come on if it drops below 50 degrees!

Partly this is because I often go and stay in a place which has very little in the way of heating and partly because I can't afford to have it on high, but I've found I do get used to it very quickly. I do use heat packs (the microwave ones like a hot water bottle) to make sure there is a nice warm spot when I get into bed and then I'm fine. (and sorry that's not meant to sound like boasting - just that it is possible to get used to lower temps and save a fortune!) dawn

I can SO relate and I am sorry you haven't been sleeping well. Everyone has their own 2 cents to chime in, huh? I hope you welcome it rather than get annoyed.

So, here's my 2 cents...First, I sleep with socks on when I'm cold before bed. Studies show that when the feet are warm, sleep is better. I didn't know that until I read it and then tried it. It worked for me. Half the time, I push them off in the middle of the night, but I still sleep better.

Second, you might want to consider having your vitamin-d level checked. After freezing last winter (from about September, which was a bit early to get cold and stay cold in the western 'burbs), I got fed up and went to an endocrinologist. Granted, I had a lot of symtoms (just about all) of hypothyroidism and wanted that checked. Being cold was one of those symptoms. She thought I was a classic, textbook hypothyroidism, but my tests all came back fine - for thyroid and pituitary. However, vit-d came back low. Without any symptoms, low isn't a bad thing and there is no reason to supplement. But with all the things I had going on, it was worth trying a supplement. I started a high-dose easily absorbed vit-d3 prescription that I take once a week and thatt very first week I noticed a difference. I had no idea vit-d could affect so many different areas of the body (from my hormone cycle to allergies to body temp to digestion issues to sleeplessness and irritability and fatigue. Even my level of alertness was low before. Wow.)

So, it's an easy blood test and it's not an expensive prescription with no side-effects as long as you are tested annually or bi-annually to be sure it isn't building up. I wouldn't have thought of that route on my own. I thank God for leading me to that endocrinologist!

I hope someone's suggestions work for you. If they don't, then I pray that you just find comfort in knowing you are not alone and God has brought you to where you are for some reason - even if unknown to us.

Have to laugh...I too am having issues with non sleep and freezing at night. I finally realized it must have to do with this age thing....and I'm at the right age for my internal temperature gauge to have major issues. Either I am lying in bed freezing trying to get to sleep or I am hot enough to rip the covers off and turn the AC and fan on (but boy does it feel good) trying to get to sleep. Finally started wearing socks to bed due to freezing (Which I HATE) that has helped, only to kick them off when I get hot at some point AFTER it has taken me a few hours to fall asleep. (then there is one sock on the floor by morning, and the other is rolled up in the covers for days or just MIA....so now I have numerous pairs of socks missing mates....)But at least with socks on a bedtime I'm not freezing anymore, just can't sleep...then I'm too hot and wide awake again. And when I'm having these awake issues...it's not like I feel like watching TV, or doing anything on the computer...I'm just miserable, want to sleep and either too cold or too hot.....

Buy a programmable thermostat with a lock code. Install it. (It does no good sitting on a shelf somewhere.) Don't tell the kids or your husband the code, You'll save money on heat from being able to program it for different times of day, and no one will be able to turn it up or down too far without your approval.

What's really fun is when it's so cold outside that you have to keep your digital alarm clock under your electric blanket so the numbers don't freeze. But I still like to sleep in the winter with a window open...

I think it could be stress. I haven't been sleeping ever since I found out we are moving across the country. I can only get 4 hours a night. I'm not even sleepy during the day. Depression usually brings on lots of sleep. Stress must be the opposite? If it's stress, I hope your situation gets better.